But they also raced toward Nomad.
Giovanni tapped Jess’s arm from time to time, yelling to turn left or right as they wound through the roads. After escaping the bay, the huge wave that crashed in had receded. It was just the first. Jess was sure more were on the way.
Every turn, she thought they’d finally reached Saline valley and could climb up and escape into the hills. Each time Giovanni pointed her forward, told her to keep going. Jess tried not to allow herself to think, forced her mind into the now, on the next stretch of pavement, and the next after that. No time for fear, not now.
Her arms burned, her back ached.
And always, she felt the small package of Hector, sandwiched between her and Giovanni.
“This is it!” Giovanni yelled. He pointed up a gravel road.
To Jess it looked like any of a hundred others they passed, but she veered off the road, started to climb, eager to get some altitude. Up through olive groves, Jess recognized a wooden shed. Two more switchbacks and they cleared the trees, the walls of Ruspoli Castle appearing over lines of vines. She skidded to a stop by the wooden door next to the main portico gate. Everything looked locked down with gates barred and windows shuttered, no lights on anywhere.
Giovanni picked Hector up from between them, and Jess felt them getting off the back. Panting, she dropped the bike to one side. Her hands shook. Then her legs. Was it the effect of gripping the bike for so long? Jess’s vision seemed to wobble, the world shook around her. She turned to Giovanni. Was she having an attack of some kind?
“Get down!” Giovanni yelled, pulling at her, crouching. “Earthquake!”
Her legs buckled and Jess tumbled to a ground that seemed to slide from side to side, hammering up and down. She’d never experienced an earthquake before, and she dug her fingers into the rattling earth and gritted her teeth. Debris and rocks scattered from the ancient walls of the castle, showering them in dust, and she put an arm around Giovanni, coming together with him to shield Hector between them.
The shaking subsided.
But Jess didn’t stop shaking. It felt like the Earth wanted to swallow them, eat them whole. The fear she’d been pushing away broke through and she curled into a ball in the dirt, trembling.
Giovanni got to one knee, then forced himself to stand, his battered face covered in dirt and dust. “Come on, it’s okay. It stopped.” He offered her a hand, and she took it and stood unsteadily.
Squeezing her hand, Giovanni let go and hobbled to the wall of the castle, kneeling in the semi-darkness. Jess dusted herself off, rubbed her shaking hands together and looked at the horizon. Streaming lines of fire danced from the dark skies behind her to the brightening spot where the sun would rise, just over the horizon. Nomad had to be halfway from the Sun to the Earth, tearing off the Sun’s corona, a stellar-mass rag doll being shredded before her eyes.
She forced herself to look up from the horizon. Nomad should be right there, but she saw nothing.
“Jess!” Giovanni yelled. He opened the wooden side door in the castle wall, Hector at his side. “Inside! Now!”
Nodding, she tore her eyes from the horizon and limped to the door. They stepped inside and slammed it shut. Panting, they closed the latch. Together they turned around.
Nico stood in the middle of the gravel courtyard, pointing a gun at them.
Jess’s mother appeared from a doorway behind Nico. “Oh, my God,” she cried, running across the courtyard to scoop Jess into her arms.
Staggering back, Jess put her arms around her mother.
Celeste squeezed Jess, then let go, stepping back to inspect her. “Are you—”
“I’m okay. We’re okay.”
“We’ve been listening to the short wave radio,” Celeste said breathlessly. “India and China have been devastated by tsunamis, a massive earthquake destroyed Japan, and Yellowstone is erupting, it's…” She glanced at Giovanni, at his beaten face, one eye almost swollen shut. She looked down, at Hector. “Oh, thank God.”
“Yes, thank God,” echoed Nico from behind Celeste. He slowly lowered his gun. “What happened with Enzo?”
“He’s right behind us,” Jess lied, keeping an eye on Nico.
Nico’s arm relaxed, the gun swinging down to his side. Jess took a step forward, opening her arms to hug him. Nico glanced at Celeste, now wrapping her arms around Hector, and opened his arms to Jess.
But she didn’t hug him.
She grabbed the hand that held the gun and tried to wrestle it from him, but he reacted too quickly. He pushed her back and raised the gun again, and Jess pulled hers from her front pocket.
“Giovanni!” Jess yelled. “Get Hector away.”
“Jess, what are you doing?” Celeste shrieked.
“And get my mother out of here, too.” Jess kept her eyes on Nico.